Archives for September 2010

Last Saturday was a great day for camping. The cool autumn air quickened my bloodstream, the moon laced the woods with a lustrous silver light, and the Ohio State Buckeyes—along with most of the Big Ten—welcomed a cream puff into their home stadium for an early season feast.

Cream puffs are tasty and go down easy with a hot drink, but watching someone eat a cream puff for sixty minutes is not must-see entertainment. I hope you used last Saturday wisely: finally put new brakes on the car, maybe split some firewood for the winter, or, even better, escaped the hometown with your lover for a romantic weekend, because the Big Ten season starts this Saturday, the talent gap closes, and the football gets interesting and mean.

Orland Park police and the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force are investigating the death of an southwest suburban Orland Park woman who was shot in the head Wednesday in the village, police said.

Police did not release the name of the victim, but the Cook County medical examiner’s office identified her as 58-year-old Anita Kustok.

She is the mother of Comcast SportsNet reporter Sarah Kustok and Zak Kustok, both former star athletes at Sandburg High School. Sarah played basketball at DePaul University, and Zak played quarterback for Northwestern University.

An autopsy was scheduled for today to determine the cause of death, according to the office.

Tubby Time has not accelerated the success of the Minnesota Gophers’ basketball program like originally anticipated. Last year was supposed to be the breakout out year but two highly regarded newcomers never saw a minute on the court while the team’s starting point guard was ineligible for most of conference play. With a loaded Big Ten this season, I cannot imagine this being the year Minnesota makes a jump in the conference.

The Sports Bank’s “99 in 99” ranks the 72 power conference college basketball teams and the top 27 mid-majors. Click here if you missed teams #51-#99.

If I were Purdue Coach Danny Hope I would consider taking a page from Major League‘s Pedro Cerrano and sacrifice a live chicken in the locker room. They need to something to remove this hex. In the preseason it was starting tailback Ralph Bolden, two weeks ago it was their best wide receiver Keith Smart. And now…

…Purdue junior quarterback Robert Marve will miss the remainder of the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the first quarter of Purdue’s 31-20 loss to Toledo on Sept. 25. The diagnosis was confirmed by Purdue’s team orthopedist on Thursday.

The Cleveland Cavaliers franchise may never fully recover from LeBron James leaving for the Miami Heat. Look how long it has taken the Bulls to shake off the effects of Michael Jordan‘s retirement. David Kay’s NBA season previews continues with a team that could very realistically go from the best in the Eastern Conference to the worst.

It’s that time of year again!!! The air is getting colder, and the sweaters are coming out. The hockey sweaters that is. From now until Opening Day of the NHL 2010 season, look out for new division previews, new in depth team outlooks, and big predictions and prognostications of the glorious season to come. Today, we take a look at the Pacific Division, and what to expect this season.

Currently one the best defenses in all of college football lives in Iowa City right now. The Iowa Hawkeyes lead the nation in total defense (227.5), rank third in rushing defense (65.5) and fifth in scoring defense (12.0). Much of that has to do with their defensive line, which rivals Alabama as quite possibly the nation’s best.

Led by the All-World Adrian Clayborn, and fellow frequent visitor to opponents’ offensive backfields Karl Klug, the unit has wreaked havoc through the first four games. Also seeing time at a starting position in Iowa’s 4-3 are Broderick Binns, Mike Daniels and Christian Ballard, a senior from Lawrence, Kansas who starred at Free State high school.

The last three times Illinois beat Ohio State: 2007, 2001, 1999, it was in Columbus. For some reason, the Illini play the Buckeyes much better in the Buckeye state than they do at home. The last time they beat Ohio State in Champaign, Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer were at the peak of their popularity.

Whenever Illinois is having a good season, they seem to beat the Buckeyes, as they have a 9-11 record againstOSU dating back to 1988. Only Michigan has more victories over Ohio State during the span, posting an 11-10-1
record.

There is one thing Illinois can claim over #2 OSU- a character on the ABC sitcom “Modern Family” wore a Juice Williams jersey for an entire episode last season. So until Courtney Cox rocks a kid size Terrelle Pryor jersey on “Cougar Town”- advantage Illini.

I’ve often said that you can usually have a great defense in college football whenever you have two smart starting safeties with experience in place. The Iowa Hawkeyes currently lead the nation in total defense (227.5), rank third in rushing defense (65.5) and fifth in scoring defense (12.0).

A big part of that comes from the heads up play and solid run support of their starting safeties Tyler Sash (19 tackles and 2 pass breakups) and Brett Greenwood (13 tackles, one for a loss and an interception).

David Kay’s NBA season previews continue north of the border where the Raptors begin life post-Chris Bosh. The re-building effort enters year one with Toronto figuring to be one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference.

After seeing this video, I understand why the University of Iowa issued their Homecoming tailgate advisory/warning message. Welcome to Tempe, Arizona where college football meets Cancun. I once dated a girl who often claimed that she appeared in an early “Girls Gone Wild” video. That “film credit” is banal and boring compared to the co-eds in this clip. (And yes, she truly was one classy babe)

Just an FYI, the visual content here is safe for work, but the language is not, so you might want to keep the volume down when playing this in your cubicle

Saturday night brings a Homecoming football game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Penn State Nittany Lions. And since that leaves an entire and some of the evening for Iowa fans to tailgate, wait I should put quotes around “tailgate,” the University felt the need to issue a few important reminders for those who will be in attending for the team’s 2010 Big Ten Conference opener.

I guess they’re trying to prevent scenes like this from getting out of hand and becoming dangerous.

Since there will be a lot of insane drunks in attendance, both inside and outside the stadium, a lot of “think when you drink” style advisories and warnings are going out.